This invention relates to beverage vessels, specifically to an improved connection of the hollow handle to the beverage vessel container, which results in a one-sided beverage vessel and allows communication between the environment external to the beverage vessel and the container contents through the opening in the hollow handle.
The use of household vessels to contain food and beverage as well as to be used for storage and display of possessions dates back to antiquity and there are tens of billions of these vessels in use world wide.
The origin for the basic topological shape of this invention; One-sided Beverage Vessel, goes back to the mid eighteen hundreds. On Apr. 25, 1884, a boy was born in Dusseldorf Prussia named Felix Christian Klein. Dr. Klein died on Jun. 22, 1925. Dr. Klein was a professor of mathematics and is the inventor (discoverer) of what is now called the xe2x80x9cKlein Bottlexe2x80x9d. The Klein Bottle is a unique topological structure. The Klein Bottle is a hollow structure that has only one surface. Perhaps you have seen a more commonly known two-dimensional structure, with only one side; called the xe2x80x9cMobius Loopxe2x80x9d? The Mobius Loop is what you get when you take a strip of paper, give one end of it a half twist and than tape the ends together. The Mobius Loop has only one side: i.e., a pen can make a line from any point on the surface to any other point on the surface without crossing over an edge. The Klein Bottle is a similar structure except that it is a structure with an internal volume and only one surface. A true xe2x80x9cKlein Bottlexe2x80x9d cannot be constructed in our normal three-dimensional space (four dimensions counting time) however the basic concept is embodied in this invention. The one-sided beverage vessel is a practical application of the topological structure inspired by the Klein Bottle.
To help us see the unique properties of the beverage vessel, lets pretend that the vessel is made of astonishingly thin material. This is a xe2x80x9cthought experimentxe2x80x9d, not a real experiment, where you actually physically do anything. Note that the only edge on the vessel is the rim that your lips would touch if you drank coffee from it. The rim of the container would be a very sharp edge while the areas where the container and the hollow handle come together would be smooth curved shapes. Now pretend that you have a very tiny little black ball shaped magnet located on the surface of the vessel somewhere and another little tiny white ball magnet located on the opposite side of the vessel material. If one were to (mentally) move either the black or white ball magnet, it would cause the white or black ball magnet to move also. One could move the black or white ball magnets, one at a time, along the vessel surface so that white ball magnet ended up where the black ball magnet was initially located and the black ball magnet was where the white ball magnet originally was. This can be accomplished without having either of the magnets pass over the vessel rim, which is the only edge of the vessel. Other than the Klein Bottle, no other hollow shape has this property. Another way to envision or demonstrate the unique properties of this shape is to point out the fact that a little bug can crawl from any point on the surface of the vessel to any other point on the surface of the vessel without crossing over an edge. Bugs cannot do this on a normal coffee cup or any other three-dimensional shape that we use in our daily lives.
To picture the shape of a Klein Bottle, it might help to envision a hollow pear shape made of transparent material that is easily stretched and shaped however you like. Again, this is a thought experiment. Lay the hollow pear on its side and than make the following changes in order to make it into a three-dimensional rendition of the Klein Bottle. First, make three holes in the hollow pear. Make a large sized hole in the top of the large end of the pear, make a medium sized hole at the bottom middle portion of the pear and make a small hole at the very tip of the thin end of the pear; where the stem of the pear would be. Stretch the thin end of the hollow pear so that it is lengthened like a hose and pull it through the large hole you made at the top of the large end of the pear shape. Continue pulling the thin hollow stretched portion through the hole, without touching the, edge of the large hole in the pear, and join the material around the small hole to the material around the medium sized hole at the bottom of the pear so that it is now hermetic at that joint. This is the basic shape of the Klein bottle in our three dimensional world. The vessel of this presentation is a modification of the original Klein Bottle shape. The modified shape is achieved by enlarging the large hole at the top of the pear shape and changing the basic pear shape to one more like a typical coffee mug while moving the elongated small end of the hollow pear towards the side of the new shape to make the hollow handle.
The only reference that I have been able to find to an application of the unique properties of a Klein Bottle for use in a beverage container or any consumer product is a coffee mug which is called a xe2x80x9cKlein Bottle Mugxe2x80x9d manufactured and sold by ACME KLEIN BOTTLE, a division of Nocturnal Aviation at 6270 Colby Street, Oakland Calif. 94618. The ACME KLEIN BOTTLE company has a web site which shows various views and pictures of the ACME KLEIN BOTTLE products and can be seen at; xe2x80x9chttp://wwww.kleinbottle.comxe2x80x9d.
One of the ACME KLEIN BOTTLE company products is a coffee mug called the xe2x80x9cKlein Bottle Mugxe2x80x9d. The Klein Bottle Mug is, however, not a one-sided mug. The Klein Bottle Mug has a much more complex structure and is definitely not a one-sided structure. One cannot successfully perform the thought experiments of the xe2x80x9clittle crawling bugxe2x80x9d or the xe2x80x9ctwo little magnetsxe2x80x9d with the ACME Klein Bottle Mug.
The xe2x80x9cOne-sided Beverage Vesselxe2x80x9d of this presentation can be used to demonstrate the unique properties of the Klein Bottle. This beverage vessel can also be used in applications where it is advantageous to be able to empty the container contents without pouring the contents over the lip of the container. An example of the possible need for this would be if an aircraft pilots beverage vessel would need to be emptied rapidly due to air turbulence. In normal use, the pilot would handle and drink from the vessel just as with any other coffee cup. However, while the vessel was sitting on the surface that the pilot used for such purposes it could be emptied by the application of a partial vacuum; from beneath the surface that the beverage vessel was resting on. The vacuum required would be provided by using either a commonly available vacuum pump or vacuum storage tank whose vacuum was appropriately applied by use of a commonly available switch or valve. Commonly available motion sensors can e used to sense and trigger the valve. The application of a partial vacuum beneath the vessel would result in the vessels contents being forced out of the hole at the bottom of the beverage vessel.
The future marketing of the beverage container of this invention will use these sorts of interesting points to stimulate interest among technically well educated people and everyday people with a innate curiosity and appreciation for the wonder and beauty of mathematics and nature.
Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of the beverage vessel described in the above patent application, several objects and advantages of the invention are:
(a) to provide a beverage vessel that satisfies the typical objectives of a such a beverage vessel while offering a unique and curious appearance;
(b) to offer a real world example of a three dimensional utilitarian object that approximates the Klein Bottle in having, not an inside surface and an outside surface, but only a single surface;
(c) to provide a show-and-tell example of a one-sided object for use in teaching mathematics students the interesting aspects of topology;
(d) to provide a beverage vessel that can be handled in the normal manner yet emptied, without having the beverage vessel contents flow across the lips of the container opening, by the application of a reduced air pressure at the surface that the beverage vessel is resting on.
Further objects and advantages are apparent when the beverage vessel is utilized in a larger size than the normal beverage vessel for the transfer of fluids from the large sized vessel to a different container, for further processing, by the application of a partial vacuum pressure at the bottom of the vessel.